Chasing The Dark

Before and After...

2009-07-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

I remember seeing in the back of Michael turner comics, his lineart for pages and concepts for covers, then on the next page you see the full rendered image. its just amazing. I've started doing the same thing, not that i can really hold a candle to Turner (RIP) but still its fun to see it in my own work. Enjoy everyone.

From Start to Finish...

2009-07-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

I just completed this page i was working on and decided to upload an image showing the whole process of coloring from lineart to finished colored product. Any questions feel free to ask. I use absolutely no plugins while working with the pages. Enjoy!

Motivation..

2009-07-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Finally was in a good mood to get some quality coloring done. Never realized how time consuming it really is. I dont really think i could ever do this for a living... Anyhow.. try thinking what this is all about...Enjoy!

Chasing the Dark Poster Design....

2009-07-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Finally Back on Track....

2009-07-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

So i was having technical issues which halted the progress of coloring. Now everythings alright and im back on track. Here's a little sample of whats to come...

Cover Art

2009-06-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

This is tough shit. After drawing everything now comes the daunting task of creating an alluring or intriguing cover. I dont know how some people do it...Mike Turner for instance. All his covers are golden. I still havent seen one i just dont like... im trying to make a few, i'll be posting more as i get the time. Heres something im workin on at the moment...

The Art Of Inking....

2009-06-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

I suck at this. but im hopefully getting better. Currently im really liking Jason Gorder's work as well as Scott Williams. But imitating them is proving harder than anything else. For all you out there who say inking is simply "tracing" and not an art, well your only 1/8th correct. Some pencillers have what are called super tight pencilling skills, where basically everything the artist wants is on the page, and nothing is left for the inker to interpret. In this case the inker simply traces. On the other hand the inker will add depth and weight to his works and something that pencils cannot afford. Also the inker cannot erase. so that blows bigtime. I've been trying to make my close up drawings a little more complicated because im working on A4 which is small for comic book pages but i really dont have the luxury or deskspace for 11x14 paper. this page in particular is something i really like. Im only showing a portion so as to not give too much away. And i've started posting videos of the sketch to ink and then to color process. That will gradually come over time.

Battery Powered Evil Peoples...

2009-06-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

Random sketch of the day.... I was in OBGYN class today and i realize that i draw things based upon the mood im in, especially if im in a class i despise. Gynecology is by far the worst subject i've ever read. it makes me want to take a sharp object and poke my eye a few times. Anyhow i started doodling in class today and just ran with an idea. I remember seeing how a Boomer looks like when its dead and wanted to use it in a drawing.. (L4D btw). So this is what i got. The pen i used was also this little gem called the Pentel Slicci 0.25 mm. its cheap and ridiculously good. Im actually using it in the upcomming pages of the comic.(because after inking the pencil lines can be erased immediately leaving absolutely NO smears or ghost lines behind) also i might add that after erasing the underlying pencils, this ink in particular does not fade. (godforsaken Pigma Microns....grr...) now i know what my friend Nori was talkin about....ENJOY!!!

About Gabby

2009-05-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

Gabby's one of the hardest characters for me to write for, with Simon being the easiest and Damien after that. Probably because Simon and Damien are based off Alex and myself, so it's easier for me to think up reactions and general plot schemes for them, while Gabbys always been a question mark for me, my initial plan was to model the personality of people I know, but that hasnt been working out too well, so I havent really gotten far with that.

As of now, she's a quiet little girl, who holds on to her childlike naivety long after Simon and Damien become far more mature than any kid their age normally would be, partially because she finds herself shielded from things by the two of them. She'll also end up being the glue that holds the group together. As for her role in the whole story, she is the character who is underestimated and overlooked, in more than one way, by both her friends and those chasing them. Anyone who does though, will be in for quite a surprise.

Gabby...

2009-04-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Gabby is an interesting character to draw. She started actually as a rag doll looking character when i first drew her in that poster which started everything. (Check first post). Her design has evolved as i was able to draw more and more. i finally found a look which i was happy with, and while i dont try to draw anime, i ended up borrowing heavily from that genre. But whatever, those artists really know how to draw some expressive characters. Big eyes show emotion better than any dialog can and so for someone such as Gabby i had to go in that direction. Heres my final version of gabby. I'll be talking about the evolution of each character as the comic goes along and Sid will most likely be talking about the characters personalities in detail along with the drawings. Stay Tuned...Enjoy!

Along this way Gabby meets the Dark...

2009-04-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

As Chapter 1 comes to a close, i decided to take some pictures of the sketches i've done working up to this project. I've always liked how some artists did this in comic books (i tried out a classic Silvestri pose for the Dark here) and now heres my chance. These will be reproduced in better quality in the Chapter 1 Book due soon (in a month or so-fingers crossed). But for the few people who actually check this place out i figure it'd be kinda cool to show you the ideas i've had for the random characters. If there are any artists interested in any technical things like supplies and media lemme know. i've scoured the net and asked many people what they use to get the result they got in they're work and i know how tough it is to get an answer. I use a mixture of traditional media and digital work. All artwork is done the old fashioned way with pencil paper pens markers and lots and lots of paper. All coloring is done with Photoshop and Painter in some instances using a Wacom Intuos3 6x8 tablet. Its pretty sweet. Anyhow Enjoy!

Panel By Panel...

2009-04-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

So my goal is pencil and pen in the rest of Chapter 1 before i leave for home. 14 days and 15 pages to do. This should be interesting... Here's a sample of an upcomming page...Enjoy!

Good news

2009-04-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1 is progressing nicely, alex will probably be done with the artwork by the end of the month given the way he's tearing through the pages right now, and I'll get to work on the lettering once I get done with medicine postings.

So if all goes well you might be looking at the first chapter/issue at some point in the next couple months. As of now I'm not going to say anything about the story, because I want to see how much people get from the first chapter, after that if you guys want a little more info about the world in our comic book, I can keep supplying you with little fragments here and there to whet your appetite.

Also I've recently discovered a new author thanks to a friend of mine, the author's name is Steven Erikson. And this man is an example of pure, unfettered genius. He has written 8 of a series of 10 books, collectively titled Malazan Book Of The Fallen. I'm currently starting the 5th in the series, and these books have me held in thrall. It's a struggle to put them down once i pick them up and start reading.

The first book is called Gardens of the Moon, and i highly recommend it to anyone who loves intricate, complex plots. Convergences are the main theme to all his books, every book is an event of convergence between multiple parties, all seemingly completely unconnected and yet as you go along, it's as though theres an invisible force pulling everything together, bit by bit, until at the end, you are left stunned, reeling, and completely in awe.

I could go on for a while about this, but for now I have to get to college so I'll pick this up some other time

Changes

2009-03-26T11:28:00.001-07:00

Tweaked a couple things in the blog's layout. Lemme know what you guys think

Benchmarks...

2009-03-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

My buddy Ryan John asked me an interesting question the other day as i was showing him some new artwork for the comic. We've critiqued each others work over the years. He said "Are you going to go back and Re-do any of your older pages." I thought for a moment then answered. "Probably not." I've learned a lot during this whole process and while many people might dismiss it all as a fruitless struggle, I've come to realize what this project really means to me. Its a catalog of progress. Its a time capsule or benchmark of skill. Im expecting that by the end of it all, whenever that may be, i'll look back at what i used to think was awesome and think that it looks like crap. But its not something i really want to change. I don't expect any profit from this project at all. I described it to Ryan as a Personal Ambition, one of those..."I've always wanted to do" things. And so as the pages roll out, i do not intend on changing a thing. If anyone reading this has seen the prelude we released about six months ago, they'll notice a great change in style in all aspects of the comic. I've utilized different techniques while Pencilling, Inking, and Coloring each page and probably will continue to incorporate more as i study other artists. Anyways, its 4:16 am on a Saturday night and i can't sleep at all. I think its time i try to go to bed. Here is a sketch out of the ol' sketch book. Enjoy!

Seeing the Light..

2009-03-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me the other day, i was doing everything wrong. The reason why i wasnt getting anything done as far as coloring was concerned was because i had no organization. I use layers liberally and since i rarely use any plugins anymore it becomes all the more important to take a few extra seconds here and there to organize them. It used to get really messy...(imagine using 100+ layers without names) anyhow i was able to finish two pages in one day which to me is a big thing and well i'd thought i'd share a part of one which i felt came out pretty well. Comments welcomed as always. Enjoy!

Keeping the Ball Rolling...

2009-03-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

In an effort to keep everything in continual motion, i'll be uploading more sketches as the comic progresses. Perhaps previews into whats really going on. Maybe later sid will explain some background as to whats going on so no matter what happens, you all will be aware that this project, as slow moving as it seems, is still very much in action. Meanwhile try to think of something that could make poor little gabby this sad and perhaps you'll figure out why shes such a quiet little girl...Enjoy.

Sneak Peek...

2009-03-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

Now that Third year medical school exams are over, the comic process can resume. Only problem is that final years no walk in the park. but still we're making progress. Actually a lot more than we've made before particularly because now im drawing as many pages as i can while trying to read. Anyhow here's a sneak peek of whats to come.
I give you a color test of a panel in chapter 1. Enjoy!

Character Portrait Line Art

2008-10-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Its been a few days since i've drawn anything, mostly because every time i tried my characters turned out hideous. So i put the pencil down for a few days even though i really wanted to get back into the comic. I guess a little rest is good. Anyways i tried again and was able to reproduce my characters slightly larger than before. Before i'd been drawing the characters at about the size which i was gonna use them for the comic itself, making them larger required some extra effort. Out of the four i think Simon and Damien came out the best as they are the two characters who have more defining features to them. Gabby and Charlie are draw similarily which is pretty obvious. The reason they remain simple is because all i really wanted to do was to have characters who were easy to draw and reproduce so i can remain consistent. Its been a tough trying to develop a style which is comfortable but i think i've found something good here. Here are the scans of the Four characters including Charlie!!. Enjoy.

When everything looks like its misspelled.

2008-09-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

The problem with being the writer/letterer is that when you stare at your work for a certain amount of time, you start thinking that every word in the english language seems to be misspelled. I once spent 15 minutes looking at the world "real" and thinking I'd gone quite mad because it looked wrong somehow.

Progress

2008-09-26T00:57:00.000-07:00

Well it's coming along rather nicely I think, if all goes well we might have our first chapter done by next month. Now the thing is the decision needs to be made, as to whether we release the entire story at once, or we do a chapter by chapter release, and honestly, we can't decide.

So now it's your call. I'm starting up a poll, let us know. Chapter by Chapter or all at once.

Organization

2008-09-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

The hardest part about this whole process is how to use the space your given on a page. Ive tried many different approaches and the one that i've found that works time and time again is thumb-nailing. I know it seems pretty obvious if anyone has ever done this themselves but it really works. Then i realized how to work more efficiently although this picture might force you to think otherwise.

Meet the Kids

2008-09-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

So i randomly decided to upload some photos from the old sketchbook.Heres the progress on the characters i've been working on. Charlie has yet to be worked on but you can see how the other three kids look. Heres how they look before they are inked and colored in.

Full Speed Ahead!

2008-09-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Alright so now i have broadband which allows me to do more than just check my mail. Now i can update this as the comic progresses, just as how i intended.
Anyhow, CTD is moving along smoothly and we are already 5-6 pages into the first chapter itself. and as a teaser heres how some of it looks...
Who is that?! and Why is she so alarmed!
Find out in Chapter One...
Comments Welcome btw...

booklets

2008-09-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

So we're not going to be in the magazine due to factors that im not going to get started on because that could take a while. regardless, we went ahead and made ourselves a little booklet version of our comic which im really happy with, if anyone wants copies let us know, theyre pretty expensive as we're just printing A3 pages out at a student xerox and binding them, but it looks really good so far. we're paying 240 a comic so let us know if anyone actually wants one for themselves and well make you one.

Yeah i know

2008-08-24T17:50:00.001-07:00

We haven't really added anything this past week, we're still working on ch.1, and we don't want to give away the entire story here, so we'll think of something to show you guys in the meantime. Concept art and stuff like that. Keep an eye out.

Here you are

2008-08-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

I've reordered things so i figured id take down the last post and put things up in order.. enjoy people.

Microsoft needs to be put down. slowly and painfully

2008-08-05T19:54:00.001-07:00

So I just spent a fair amount of time searching the web to find the code to set up the effect I've got on the blog. Get it in place, spend an equal amount of time tweaking and fixing the odd bits that stick out here and there, and finally i get it working and I'm happy.
Then i close Firefox and start up Internet explorer to see if the retard version of web browsers can read the page properly. Big surprise. It doesn't.

To all of you who read this, if you're not already using Firefox, the first thing you need to do is download it. It will vastly improve your web browsing experience and make you want to destroy your computer less.

Get Firefox Here

Caduceus

2008-08-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well with any luck if we manage to shift our lazy asses well be able to get our prelude along with a little extra content as teaser material ready to be published in the college magazine. if we really like how it turns out we might even turn it into little preview booklets so let us know if youre interested.

Right, im here

2008-07-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

Im now officially on the Chasing The Dark staff, expanding its ranks to.. well.. two of us.

Just a quick update, we've got our overall plot done, and personally I love the direction in which the story's going. Hope to have the prelude colored and lettered soon, and we've started work on our character bios, so keep an eye out here for those.

Bringing the Pages to Life

2008-06-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

I started coloring in the first page of the prelude and realized exactly why there are teams of people producing comic books. the process is very time consuming and is an art that im trying to teach myself. the entire comic is going to be an evolving process and since it is my first one there will be changes along the way some which might be noticeable others that might not. Either way feedback is welcomed as the next book i intend to make will be more consistent. As for this issue i dont think im going to change much unless its grossly out of place. Im currently observing Peter Steigwald who does colors for Michael Turner of Aspen Comics ( creators of Fathom and Soulfire). His work is amazing and im trying to apply some techniques he uses. We'll see how much of a difference it makes in the coming pages. Enjoy.

Imagine if you came face to face with this guy at a carnival...

2008-05-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Granted i think carnivals are pretty scary places in general...fucking carnies... but after being in a rut of some sorts i've actually taken a new approach at character design. Im drawing a character to fit a certain personality. This guys a new addition. I sketched him out using these crazy japanese pens i fell in love with. They draw like a medium between pencil and ink. and using Photoshop i added some quick gradient tones . Meet bobo, childhood fear # 2 and i intend to have the protagonists encounter this guy soon in the upcoming comic. Comments ?

A Small Distraction

2008-05-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago i drew a two panel cartoon for something depicting the "Stages of life". im not really sure what prompted this but i randomly happened upon the rough sketch of it from those past years and since i was bored, decided to re-draw it. Its a little something that kinda helps break the pace of the normal comic routine. I've also seemed to hit a roadblock in creativity it seems. I'm having some trouble staging the beginning of the main part of the comic. Perhaps im over thinking things. I'll give it a break then come back to it. Its probably the easiest thing to do but the hardest thing get started on. Anyhow enjoy the drawing...

The Prelude is Near Completion

2008-05-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

I was waiting until i had completed the drawings in pen and ink for the prelude before posting em just because i wanted it to have some semblance of continuity. Each page was different in a sense because i became increasingly comfortable with taking risks while creating the panels. Its all new to me so im simply drawing from what i've felt seemed to be effective as far as layout is concerned. There is no dialog and very minimal sound effects. There are no colors either yet. Im debating whether to color it in fully or leave it grayscale and perhaps color in only the main character's scarf or something. if anyone has any suggestions that would be great. Im curious to see what people would say was going on without narration or dialog; just to see if the drawings carried any bit of the story without having to rely heavily upon text and such. Anyways. Here goes.

"I Am Not Afraid of The Dark" Poster

2008-05-12T23:56:00.000-07:00

Heres the aforementioned Poster which started this whole process... Comments are Definitely welcomed. (Thanks Niv)

Chasing The Dark

2008-05-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when you were a little kid and were scared of practically everything? Remember being scared of:

The Dark?
The Boogyman?
Lions?
Tigers?
Bears?
Etc...?

The only comfort was that right before you got caught/killed/maimed/dismembered, you woke up safe and sound in your bed.
What if that didn't happen?
What if you didn't wake up?
What if when you opened your eyes all you saw was the same element of fear which closed your eyes in the first place?
Now thats some scary shit.

The idea of this comic came simply from a tagline i wrote on a poster i drew a month ago. Originally it was intended just to be blown up and made into a poster to put on the wall, but every time i looked at it i felt like there was some hidden potential that remained untapped. At this time i was desperate for a story to sink my teeth into in order to kick off my year long desire to create a comic which i would be satisfied with. And after a year of sketching random things, this one simple and darkly haunting piece was my catalyst of creation. My spark, some would say, i'd like to thank my muse.

Some think its silly and some would say its a pretty easy task to come up with a bunch of drawings and make them cohesive. Add text. Add colors. Then suddenly...voila! theres a comic book for all the kids to read.

like all art, the finish piece never does the artist justice. The countless hours put into each and every line, every stroke, every pose, glance, expression. Expression... thats the key. The Artist expresses himself through his medium. His Muse guides him. (oh and just for the record im not saying that all artists these days deserve this kind of respect, like Picasso...Fuck him, give a paint brush to a paraplegic and he'll come up with better work. i mean really the jackass paints elementary school art and gets paid millions. check out "Nu au Fauteuil Noir".(45.1 mill for that one) really Go ahead. if im wrong then so be it but if you agree with me then please lemme hear it)

When people pick up a comic, they automatically associate the fact that it contains pictures with the fact that childrens book also contain pictures... and that therefore comics are for kids. There are certain comics i assure everyone are most certainly NOT for kids. Rather they allow a group of creators, or a team, of people of different talents (Writers, Pencillers, Inkers, Colorists) to work and collaborate on a single piece of work. One that by the end of the entire process they all are proud of. So to state that all comics are just for kids is just stupid. For anyone who wants a perfect example of a GREAT comic book( great drawings, story, colors) Read "Identity Crisis" Written by Brad Meltzer (fiction author of Zero Game) Rags morales , Alex Sinclair. Its a DC comic but i guarentee if your a fan of reading fiction then you will love this book, even if comics aren't your thing.

Now with all this being said and done, i am no way near a great artist but i do take a certain amount of pride in my work. I've studied and observed the way certain artists draw characters and such and am constantly trying to apply them in my work, adapting them in order to build my own style.

Ok Now lets Start the Show...